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Vauxhall - Good morning, you're through to customer care, how may I help you?

Mktg - Hi, I've just got a few questions. I've heard that your owner GM is having some financial difficulties. I bought a Corsa last year and it's under warranty, and I wanted to check what would happen in the eventuality that the company did go bust and what it would mean as a Vauxhall owner?

Vauxhall - As a consumer?

Mktg - Yes.

Vauxhall - Well, to be honest, we're still operating as usual. We don't have any information that the company will go bust at any time. We will continue to do our duty, because we are legally bound to the customer for three years. We will continue with what we started, and how we move on from there, we'll have to see. But at the moment your warranty is still valid, no matter what happens.

Mktg - How long is the warranty again?

Vauxhall - It's for three years from the first date of registration.

Mktg - So, in terms of parts, if the company did go bust, would that be affected? I need to think about this now, because I don't want to be stuck with a car if something went wrong. How do they ensure that if the company goes bust then customers will still be covered for three years? Can they still do that?

Vauxhall - I honestly would not be able to comment on that. I don't know what the management is doing now on that. Like I said, there has not been anything formal or official coming to us on how we will handle it. But if it does happen, then we'll be able to communicate what's going to happen. I think that the customer will be informed if it does happen. But now we are operating as if nothing has happened.

Mktg - So can you still buy a new Vauxhall?

Vauxhall - Yes, nothing has changed, you'll still get the warranty and still be able to get parts. We're all aware of the situation, but we've received nothing official. There's no panic anywhere.

Mktg - Will they be letting customers know when there's more information?

Vauxhall - We have a press department and a public affairs department, they'll be the ones who'll know how to communicate to the customer when something happens.

Mktg - OK, thanks very much.

Vauxhall - Thanks for your call sir, bye.

Verdict - Although I can appreciate that the call-handler would not be able to discuss the financial difficulties, I wasn't convinced that the warranty on my car would be honoured. My misgivings were not helped by being told to wait to hear an announcement from the car company. Although the call-handler was polite, he was very hard to understand.

Score 6/10